Pickering-based YEAH just what youths need

Oshawa This Week

A recent funding boost for a Pickering-based program will help it help young people looking for work and some direction in their lives.

Earlier this month, MP Corneliu Chisu announced $91,000 for Youth Education, Arts and Health Foundation (YEAH). It assists youth facing employment barriers by offering workshops that focus on life skills such as communication and linking young people to local work placements.

There's no question young people in west Durham could use the help. Samantha Teney, general manager for Durham Employment and Community YMCA of Greater Toronto, notes in the wake of the recession a lot of highly skilled workers are in the job market, making it even more difficult for youths to secure employment.

The statistics are troubling. A TD Economics study in March 2012 found the recession hit young Canadian workers hard, as more than half of the 430,000 jobs lost were among those under 25 years of age. While the economy has started limping forward again, not so for the under-25 crowd: a measly 1,300 jobs have been added over the last two-and-a-half years.

In years past, it was hard enough for a young person fresh out of high school, college or university to secure a good job. The mantra from employers was, and sometimes still is, 'no experience, no job'. Now it's become, 'no experience, lots of better-qualified people ahead of you in line, no job'.

Our young people need a boost to help them find a well-paying job that can turn into a career. With so much competition in the job market, YEAH can be a huge help in giving a young person an edge or even just turning them in the right direction. Founded around two years ago, it's a non-profit organization that was set up, according to the website, "to support youth in the Region of Durham, by providing life-changing programs and mentorship that empowers and transforms our youth."

YEAH is off to a good start. Its first program, The Reaching Objectives Collaboratively Program, was designed to get young people employed and back in school. According to YEAH, the program achieved an 83 per cent success rate and is being re-launched this month.

An organization such as YEAH can help young people learn what it takes to be competitive and acquire skills, sometimes even the most basic skills, to get them started in the right direction.
--- Pickering News Advertiser